Issue 4354. Last Updated: 03/22/2010

Travelers Arriving From U.S. To Be Checked for Swine Flu

The Moscow Times
All passengers arriving in Russia from the United States or Mexico will have their temperatures tested to make sure that they are not carrying a deadly strain of swine flu, Gennady Onishchenko, head of the Federal Consumer Protection Service, said Sunday.

"All airline passengers from Mexico and the United States will be passing through a contact-free heat sensor," he said, Interfax reported.

The World Health Organization has said more than 80 people have died in Mexico from the disease, which previously had been known to spread from direct contact with pigs. The outbreak, believed to be spreading from human to human, has led to confirmed cases in three U.S. states and a suspected outbreak at a school in New York.

The outbreak also led to a new round of pork bans, Nikolai Vlasov, a deputy head of Russia's veterinary health watchdog, said Sunday. Effective immediately, uncooked pork from Mexico, California, Texas and Kansas will be stopped at the border because of confirmed swine flu cases there.

Vlasov said additional attention would also be paid to passengers' hand luggage.

"If our American colleagues react quickly ... and guarantee that deliveries will be safe and if we find those guarantees sufficient, the ban could be lifted next week," he said, Interfax reported.

Vlasov said it was possible that the virus would appear in Russia but that it was critical to delay it for as long as possible to give health officials time to prepare.

Russia has had periodic outbreaks of African bovine fever in the Caucasus region, which is not dangerous to humans. Onishchenko warned on Sunday that the oncoming warm weather could lead to new outbreaks of the H5 avian flu, which has been a problem in Russia in recent years.



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